Minnesota Republican Tim Pawlenty urged fellow governors on Thursday to more frequently assert state sovereignty over the federal government and suggested that the country may increasingly see states suing the federal government.

Pawlenty advocates state sovereignty

Minnesota Republican Tim Pawlenty urged fellow governors on Thursday to more frequently assert state sovereignty over the federal government and suggested that the country may increasingly see states suing the federal government.

Asked by a caller about the option of asserting the Tenth Amendment as a tactic to reject a successful health care overhaul by President Barack Obama during a tele-town hall organized by the Republican Governors Association, Pawlenty said, “that’s a possibility.”

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Speaking generally about the tenth amendment, Pawlenty said the country has not had “a proper federalism debate since Ronald Reagan raised the issue in the 1980s.”

“You’re starting to see more governors, me and governor [Rick] Perry from Texas, speaking out on this and asserting our tenth amendment rights,” Pawlenty said on a call listened to by more than 12,000 people.

“Asserting the tenth amendment may be a viable option,” Pawlenty said, adding that there may be “more of those claims and maybe even lawsuits if need be.”

Perry became a hero of the anti-tax Tea Party movement in April by endorsing a Texas state House resolution affirming the state’s sovereignty, and suggesting in an interview that he may support his state seceding from the union.

Pawlenty’s comments echoed some of Perry's, who predicted during a prior RGA tele-town hall in May that a number of states would adopt laws that “assert their independence from the federal government.”

Pawlenty was joined on the health-care focused call by Gov. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wy.) and GOP gubernatorial hopefuls Rep. Mary Fallin (Okla.) and John Kasich (Ohio).

Asked about the president’s speech the night before and his support for a public health insurance option, Pawlenty said “it’s frightening, it’s ludicrous, it’s a bad idea and the country is against it.”

Pawlenty clarified his comments Friday morning during his weekly radio show on Minneapolis-based WCCO, insisting that he was not pushing for the same approach to states rights issues as Perry, but rather suggesting that the issue of federalism be raised.

“I made some comments that made it into the press last night about the Tenth Amendment,” Pawlenty said. “What I was trying to convey is that we have an important amendment in the U.S. Constitution and we should at least have the discussion. Not seceding from the union, not filing lawsuits, but at least some awareness that the Tenth Amendment exists.”

“Citizens and policymakers should be aware of this thing called federalism…and I feel that that has been lost,” he added. “I was trying to raise that concern.”